|
Invasive species costly to ecology
By Qin Chuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-05-21 22:44 Imported plants and animals
that have proliferated in China cost the country nearly 120 billion yuan
(US$14.5 billion) every year.
Called alien invasive species, they are brought in from abroad only to end up
harming local ecosystems, threaten native species and lead to the loss of local
biodiversity.
The problem has caught the eye of the State Environmental Protection
Administration and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Together, they are
drafting a law on biological security to address the problem.
One example is the water hyacinth, introduced from South America in the 1950s
as pig feedstuff, said Xu Haigen, director of the Division of Nature
Conservation and Biodiversity of the Nanjing Institute of Environmental
Sciences.
Later, as people started using other feedstuff they stopped feeding pigs with
water hyacinth.
However, the species reproduced rapidly and spread in provinces such as South
China's Guangdong and East China's Jiangsu and Fujian.
The plant covers water surface, it fights off other water plants and
organisms and damages local ecosystems.
Local governments have invested large sums of money to get rid of water
hyacinth but all their efforts failed, Xu said.
A national survey conducted in 2001 and last year found 283 alien invasive
species in the country, ranging from terricolous plants to reptiles and
microorganisms.
Nearly 40 per cent of them were considered useful and deliberately
introduced, only to prove disastrous for local ecosystems and species.
About 49 per cent entered the country accidentally, travelling on products
traded internationally. They then developed wildly.
According to the survey, headed by Xu and experts from ministries such as the
State Environmental Protection Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture and
the State Forestry Administration, alien invasive species cause direct economic
losses of nearly 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) every year.
Direct economic loss are losses in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and
fishery.
Meanwhile, indirect losses, including damage to ecosystems and species
resources in the country, totals 100 billion (US$12 billion) yuan every year, he
said.
"Many people in the country lack sufficient knowledge about the impact of
alien species on ecosystems and the environment and therefore pay no attention
to the problem," said Xu, who Friday in Beijing attended an experts' forum on
biodiversity.
Some even believe blindly that alien plants are better than native ones. Xu
said almost all the grass seeds for lawns are imported from abroad.
No risk assessment is in place before introducing alien species. At the same
time, management of new species is not effective and may contribute to the
problem, he said.
Xu proposed a number of steps, including a law on biological safety,
strengthening risk assessment capacity, more research on the control of alien
invasive species, and raising public awareness.
Cai Lei of the State Environmental Protection Administration's biodiversity
and biosafety office said in addition to drafting a law on biological safety,
research on a risk assessment system for introducing alien species is
underway.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
